Cutting:Cutting quality is a prerequisite for quality in a finished product. In addition, cut work quality affects the ease and cost with which construction is accomplished. The quality of work leaving the cutting room is determined by how true the cut fabric parts are to the pattern; how smooth or rough the cut surface is; material or fabric pieces within a bundle.

Cutting fabric

In addition, various factors in cutting that can affect that can affect the subsequent quality shoulder be checked, such as under-or-overcut, size, placement and sequence alignment of notches and drill holes, ripped or pulled yarns, etc. Dunlap lists the following defects that may arise in cutting.

Frayed edges: May impede cutting time by clogging the knife action and /or mar the fabric with rips or pulled yarns. The amount of fraying depends on fabric construction and finish. Improper cutting tools or dull knives cause excessive fraying in a pattern as the section is cut.

Fuzzy, ragged, or serrated edges: The result of poor cutting implements. Such edges will impede sewing and/or diminish sewing quality. Such a condition is caused by faulty knife edges such as burrs, chips, or dullness.

Ply-to-ply fusion: More common and troublesome. Adjacent plies in a block are fused together, which makes it difficult for the sewing machine operator to pick up a single ply quality. Fusion occurs due to heat created by excessively high speed of cutting or by the friction of a dull knife. To prevent fusion, check knife speed, keep knives sharp, place wax paper between fabric plies , and lubricated cutting blade.

Single-edge fusion: Consists of a single ply whose cut yarn ends are fused to form a hard brittle rim on cut edge. Sometimes, this desirable to prevent fraying; however, hardness and brittleness are undesirable if they impede sewing manipulation or may result in seams uncomfortable to the consumer.

Pattern precision: Misshape or distortion of the pattern perimeter as cut. Whether it is under-or overcut is due to the poor manual control of the cutting machine and poor lines on the marker. To assure precision in a pattern, check markers before cutting, use tensionless spreading, or allow time for the fabric to relax. After a cut, check the top, bottom, and middle plies against the pattern.

Notches: Notch size refers to the depth of a notch. If the depth is too great, the notch may show after a garment is sewn. If the notches are too small, sewing operators may have difficulty locating them quickly, resulting in decreased efficiency. Misplacement of a notch may be due to an improper spread marker, poor control of a cutting machine with the cutter’s notching tool stroking diagonally instead of vertically, incorrect marker in that the notches for mating parts do not coincide. Check notch placement against mating pieces. Quality control in stitching may be a problem if notches are not aligned.

Drilling: The drill hole may be too large or too small in diameter. In addition, a drill may become too hot due to high speed or wrong size, causing the plies to fuse together at the drill hole. The drill must stroke vertically to the table for uniform placement throughout the bundle. Sometimes fabric properties are such that the slight movement of yarns in a fabric would close a drill hole in such cases, it is necessary to drill holes with a marking fluid. The drill used for such a purpose is hollow and carries marking fluid (ink) that is deposited at the drill point on the fabric as that needle is withdrawn. Such marks should last long enough so that further processing can be finished without difficulty, but should be easily removable after processing or in case of an error.

Sewing: In-process inspection in sewing involves the inspection of work from each operator, with a quality standard established to limit the amount of bad work permitted and a provision for operators to re inspect and repair entire bundles should this limit be exceeded. The decision on where to place the inspection station will be influenced by various factors such as the importance of operations, and controlling troublesome or key operations. Since inspection can often be performed for two or more operations at the same time , in-process inspection can be established at various inspection points in sewing operations, as opposed to the inspector literally selecting work at each operator’s work station. First, a complete manufacturing process chart should be made, clearly identifying the production or manufacturing steps for each type of garments made. For example,

Then inspection points or station should be carefully selected so that the operations to be checked are neither covered by later operations, nor necessitate ripping good work to repair a defect. Inspection station should provide a uniform work load for each inspector and should minimize the elapsed time between the completion of an operation and its inspection.

For example, a sequence of operations for men’s dress shirts. Each operator should be told what standard of work is acceptable and what is not there should be a written quality specification for each job in the manufacturing process. Whenever possible, sketches of garment parts such as those should be included, illustrating how they are supposed to appear after completion.

Dimension and tolerances for critical points must be included. Knowledge of the factors that create problems in a particular operation helps determine the specific dimension or characteristic. Each inspector should be clearly told what to look for while inspecting various operations.

Book source:

The Technology of Clothing Manufacture- Latham Carr.

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Mazharul Islam Kiron is a textile consultant and researcher on online business promotion. He is working with one European textile machinery company as a country agent. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.